Tag Archives: american portrait artist

I am feeling very inspired to paint more of this sort of portrait – of people doing their thing. If you’re a local business owner, and it would be OK for me to come out and take pictures (or paint on site) of you or your staff cooking, tending the till, feeding cows, constructing a house… anything like that… call or send me an email.

I wish I could post a picture now, but this last portrait is a surprise gift… I’m very excited about how it turned out! I can’t wait to show you all.

I was so anxious waiting to hear back from the collector… But this morning I got the “It looks great!!!” Yay, I love that. Thank you collector.

Now that the painting is ready to ship, I have some time before my next commission will start. If you know anyone who is interested in a portrait, please share my information with them.

For the last 9 years, I’ve gradually come to the point where there’s no difference in how long a portrait takes me for sizes under 11×14″. And you’d think they go faster and faster as I get more experienced, but it’s sort of the opposite. The more I know, the higher my expectations get, and the more nuanced my paintings are.

The difference between 11×14 and 16×20 is the first jump in size where the larger painting takes more planning and time to complete… I’m planning to do something with that information, but I’m not sure what…

This portrait was a Christmas gift for a lovely woman, so I waited until after it was given to show it to you… Augusta’s daughter wanted a painting of Augusta in her garden (which I had seen several photos of on Facebook, and it is … glorious). She sent me some photos of Augusta outside, and some different photos of her amazing garden. I wanted to paint Augusta sensitively, but her garden thick and painterly, and to have it all work together. I’m excited about how it came together.

This is one of the most challenging paintings I’ve done, because it’s very conceptual. My son’s programming mentor was interested in a painting that will remind him of a crow that was a childhood friend, and which would talk to him from the barn roof.

I ended up making a painting that looks fairly simple, but there is a lot of texture in the sky and barn peak, and getting the expression to read just right was quite a challenge. Today I sent him the final picture, and he loves it, for which I am very glad!

So many ideas for abstract paintings came to me while I was working on this painting. I want to do many more birds (and have been taking photos of the crows that winter over here), as well as some paintings about texture and color.

Blue Eyes, 7″x5″, oil on linen, available. If this is a gift, I would be happy to gift-wrap the painting and add a card with your name and note. Please just note that when you check out, or give me a call.

I have been really enjoying painting horses! I feel a sort of kinship with them that just makes the paint flow. There is something about all the personality that shows in their faces, and the combination of power and grace that is captivating…

I think this would look really cool huge on the wall, so prints are available here.

Yesterday I met a new collector at the frame shop. She, the framer and I all looked at framing options together. It was a great experience. In the past, either I frame a painting myself, or the collector frames it. I’ve never met at a framing shop before.

Over the last several years I’ve found a couple really nice frames that I love and have gotten good feedback on, that tend to work well with most paintings. I usually use those frames when a collector prefers me to do the framing. But occasionally they aren’t quite right for a painting, so I’m off to the frame shop.

The decision in the frame shop can take many hours, and I always wonder “will the collector love the details, or wish it was more simple,” or the opposite…

I know that a lot of collectors and other artists also struggle with this. The options are endless, from simple almost invisible contemporary frames or no frame at all, to huge or ornate frames… Usually one frame just works the best at pulling out what is most important in the painting, and matching the collector’s taste. It can take time to find that one frame, but then when you see it framed and hung, that time was well worth it.

The frame my lovely collector ended up choosing is simple, textural and dark, but not ornate. It’s going to be great. I can’t wait to see it framed and hung!

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If you’re considering a portrait as a holiday gift, and the portraits I paint resonate with you, click here for information.

Hello art enthusiasts, here is the completed painting of our lovely local dry cleaner (detail below). I’ve been breaking one of the cardinal rules of blogging – taking a long break from posting. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

I’ve been refueling the creative juices. Do you do that as well? Since my last posting I’ve taken hundreds of source photos, and am excited about so many different painting ideas. I’m planning to continue with the local landscapes, heavy on landscapes with animals and people in them. If you have any requests, I’d love to hear them.

On a personal note, here’s what I’ve been up to: had lots of summer fun with our 8 year old son (right now he’s programming his minecraft turtle), made a big garden, stained our porch, soul searched and researched about our son’s education next year, house-trained and dealt with lots of medical issues with our new 100% awesome from-the-pound dog. What have you been up to this summer?

My son got me with his first really effective April fools prank. He’s 7, so in the past they’ve been cute and sweet, but this one really got me good. Heath’s in for it when he gets home, so I can’t spill the beans in case he reads this – but it involved a nice little bit of coding on Caden’s part, a few seconds of panic (for me), a lot of laughing (both of us)… And I’m very impressed (as I often am).

About this painting: Some of my paintings just come straight together Alla prima (painted all at once), but once in a while I’ll spend weeks or months living with a painting and making changes until it says “I’m done.” This painting is one of those… I started it a few months ago and you’ve seen a couple progress photos. Finally yesterday I decided it needed some simplification and clarity about the light source, so I got rid of the stripes in his pants and made the bottom of the lit area of the couch a more clear shape, and made the whole light area blue… and made Otter’s shadow more of a cartoon shadow, as a nod to the Calvin & Hobbes book being read. What do you think?